It is called a Hole In Block, or HIB and it is caused by a connecting rod coming apart. The one on my 240sx was from making too much power on stock connecting rods. This one is probably from a lubrication failure or just from a cyclic stress failure via a stress riser.

You could check through this book and see if you can identify why it failed:

http://books.google.com/books?id=A81...0smith&f=false

I would think that you should be able to identify if it was from compressive, tensile, or shearing. That would tell you if a bearing seized, something caused a ton of compressive force, or if the piston was caught in the bore somehow and the rod pulled apart.

 

I've gotten raced on motors rebuilt but only where there was an inherent defect to begin with - personally I think you are in for a lot of hardship and wasted time chasing that in court.

There are a couple of complete motors for sale on egay for 2K right now and I would just bite the bullet and part out your motor to help cover it.

 

INCORRECT. The rod didn't "let go", and most certainly not "for sure".


Interesting opinions about Honda not covering this, a moronic driver who revs constantly and needlessly can easily put the car under the same or worse stress and it'll be covered, furthermore a hard canyon drive like I've done many times can certainly put equivalent stress on the motor. So to excuse Honda from this is rather ridiculous, this failure happened on the freeway not on the track. The failure wasn't an over-rev, nor was it a oil starvation issue.

I saw the motor in person, the connecting rod is NOT what broke IMO, rather the bolts securing it on the rod. They're sheared off at a clean break, the rod was broken because the crank gave it a shove once it was no longer connected to the bearing. So since the rod journal isn't spun and shows no damage due to heat nor does the wrist pin, it's plainly obvious to see this failure was not due to user error. It most likely was a FACTORY over tightened bolt or a poorly manufactured bolt. Something Honda should absolutely be liable for. If it was over-rev we'd be looking at some head damage, such as a bent/cracked valve and some top end damage. Rod stretch would be prevalent as well in some cases with over-rev and the bolts can break due to it as well, but first we'd be seeing valve damage as we've seen with other over-revs long before the bottom end fails.

 

Yeah, you aren't supposed to port the block...

 

I'll put aside my response for a minute and simply say if you are so sure pony up the dough for a lawyer for him and fight it. Talk is cheap and if you don't believe me or the other people who are saying this is game over, put up.

 

Just because Honda should be responsible doesn't mean it is worthwhile to fight. I'm guessing you don't know much about the legal system do you?. Consider finding a lawyer and the costs involved all for a $2k motor (which I already helped him install a few days ago). I told him the second I saw the block that it wasn't worth fighting. My motor failed at 37k and I knew that too wasn't worth fighting either.

 

Look into the Magnusson-Moss Act. You don't need a lawyer to put pressure on Honda. You won't need a lawyer until you decide to go to court. Even then, you COULD represent yourself.

 

^ I've used it and you're correct, also if you get a lawyer willing to work on commission you might pay nothing upfront but winning this against Honda is a long painful road either way, for $2000 dollars I'd probably just call it a loss. I'm very familiar with these laws, I'll inform Justin of his rights and about how it is the obligation of HONDA to PROVE that the failure was not their fault not the other way around.

 

I have not had the same issue, but I did have a blown engine that I had warrantied through American Honda. Mine was a droped valve from a faulty valve adjustment. At first, the dealership told me they would not work with me on the issue, but after I spoke to American Honda, the issue was resolved. Everyone is an expert on what you should do, but in the end you have to decide for yourself.

I can only tell you my own experience, and you can take it for what it's worth (and hopefully it will be helpful to you). I did not take Honda to court, and certainly did not expend any money on my part to fix the issue. In my experience, American Honda was much easier to work with than the dealership -- possibly b/c the dealership messed up the valve adjustment that caused the blown engine -- so if you're going to try to get this warrantied, I would start there. I will tell you that the procedure they followed with me was thus:

(1) Check to see if any of the mods on my car could have contributed. They were pretty reasonable here, I had some bolt-ons, nothing major, and they didn't freak out. Whoever said that any aftermarket part will void the warranty doesn't know what they're talking about.

(2) Check to see if the engine hydrolocked. This is a pretty easy check.

(3) Check the ECU to see if the engine was over revved.

After that, they agreed with me, and ordered a new engine and install free of charge. The dealership was not happy, as they had to eat the cost of the engine, plus the install cost. They tried to sell me a new clutch to make some money off of the job, but at the end of the day I got the engine warrantied, and mine was actually just out of warranty (by less than a month) when it happened. So from my experience, I did not become confrontational, I didn't get an attorney and take them to court, I just dealt with American Honda reasonably and allowed them due time to check out the car.

On a side note, I am an attorney, and I never once pulled that card. This is not legal advice and I am not your attorney, but from a practical advice standpoint, I will say that there is absolutely no reason to escalate this off the bat. Give them an opportunity to inspect the engine and warranty it first (make sure American Honda, and not just the dealership, is involved as soon as possible to the beginning of this ordeal), and only if you can not find a civil resolution to the issue should you consider dragging this on further (including court). American Honda was very reasonable, curteous, and responsive with me when I treated them the same way. It is really amazing what you can accomplish in this world by treating people with respect.

 

^ Pretty fair advice, wish he was treated as civil as you were.


The OP was an employee at this dealership and involving N. America Honda was the first step, that is long behind us, they don't give a shit, they didn't bother to look at the car even.

1) Absolutely not, unless you want to get creative and stretch things beyond reasonable degrees. He had no motor mods besides intake/exhaust and he had some aero parts.

2) Nope, it was dry that day on the highway, plus I saw the motor and pulled plugs, it was completely dry.

3) No code present.

After that they said screw you we haven't EVER warrantied a S2000 engine at this dealership and we don't plan to, the N. America rep like I said didn't bother to look at it, the dealership was rude and literally laughed when we inquired in person about the damage and the cause of damage. He literally said "what's there to talk about" laughed, and turned away, I was furious. If they were being reasonable as they were to you, he'd probably have a replaced motor, instead they're going out of their way to F@#CK him on this one.

They wouldn't inspect the engine even, I offered to tear it down for them and have them just take a look, they refused that as well. Then they said they'd tear it down but only for a huge cost of nearly a thousand bucks, the new motor was only two thousand so it makes no sense to have them tear it down and then say "nahhh we don't want to pay for it" and have to pay the tear down cost.

I think I can speak for Justin on this matter when I say it's not going to be handled in a civil manner, it's court or nothing and spending money to solve it might be counter productive at this point since I just helped him install his new motor last weekend, though I feel terrible to watch Honda screw him intentionally like this. If the matter can be solved in court with little or no cost then great but otherwise I'm not sure the risk is worth it financially speaking.

-Greg